Convenience store victim should have been in Mideast

Though I grew up in South Florida and am visiting his country of origin, we never met. Through advocacy work on his behalf with the Right to Enter Campaign, I became acquainted with his story.

He was a U.S. citizen, born in Palestine. His wife and three children live in a village near Tulkarem. When he married nearly 10 years ago, he applied for residency to live in the West Bank. Since then, he lived there intermittently on Israeli tourist visas; his residency application was pending, as Israeli authorities determine who can or cannot live in the West Bank. I wrote a letter on behalf of Mr. Khalil requesting U.S. intervention with the Israeli authorities on humanitarian grounds.

Three days before he was killed, Mr. Khalil informed the campaign that things were hopeful. The U.S. State Department contacted him offering intervention. We will never know whether he would have joined his family; now we are shifting our efforts to repatriate his remains to join them in death. Mr. Khalil never should have been in the Port Five Star Food Mart the morning he was brutally killed; he should have been at home with his family in Palestine. Though I didn't know him personally, during the two months I have been in Ramallah, West Bank, I have met many people whose lives share the tragic traces of his. His story is the sad ending of one that Israeli authorities controlled from the beginning.